President Tim Tholen called the meeting to order and led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Sarah Beyer shared George Washington’s thoughtful prayer with us as our Invocation.
CLUB ANNIVERSARIES: Brad Kleindl 12 yrs May 2nd, Mary Kingsley 20 yrs, May 5th.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Thanks to the Greeters, the Ecology Committee members. Lon Lawton spoke briefly on our 2nd year of Native Plant Sale at the Rotary Youth Camp on May 9th from 4 to 6 pm). Marc McCarty shared with us our working relationship with the Westside CAN Center & Donations: please donate food / vegetables or checks – Nutrition Program. Tom Davis spoke on Step Up to the Plate for the Rotary Youth Camp with flyers on the tables
setting forth sponsorship levels $5 per Royals game ticket goes to the Camp: 6/15 @1 pm. Tim Tholen gave a shout out in recognition who volunteered at Sleep in Heavenly Peace last Sat. Book Drive – for the District Conference, please bring a book(s) to our May 8th and 15th Rotary Club meeting. Camp Clean-Up on May 10th from 8 am to noon. Sign up sheets were on the tables.
UPCOMING EVENTS: BRING A GUEST ! (in addition to the above)
May 9th Native Plant Sale at the Rotary Youth Camp (4 -6 pm)
May 10th Camp Clean Up Day (8am - Noon)
May 22nd 4th Thursday Social
May 30th -June 1st District Conference in Kirksville, MO
June 15th Step Up to the Plate for the Rotary Youth Camp (Rotary Day at the Royals)
PROGRAM: Tim Tholen introduced our speaker, Roger Coldsnow, who grew up in Independence, MO, graduated from the University of Missouri with a BS in Marketing in 1964 and received his MA in Journalism/Advertising in 1966. It was draft board time and Roger served 3 years in the Army as an Artillery Officer, including a tour in Vietnam. Upon returning home. Roger worked in Advertising and Marketing for 6 years and been in real estate thereafter in real estate. Roger has been actively engaged in leadership positions of various local Rotary & fraternity organizations.
Being an Army Artillery Officer, Roger’s motto was “Always Bring a Cannon to a Gunfight”. Roger got introduced to Cannons as from his wartime in Vietnam. Roger’s was a very personal story and part travel log. The Cannons, as we learned and grace of God, saved his life. This presentation was the result of three friends and a beer recanted their Vietnam experiences. They had never really their Vietnam experiences to non-veteran participants. Roger decided it would be a cathartic experience to do so. Taking the dry pages of history into a living (surviving) person’s personal experiences. In part it was a story of three beautiful cannons and the human experience.
Personal Army History: Boot camp at Fort Leonard Wood, an 8-week all expenses paid “holiday’ in the rustic Ozark country. The Army provided free haircuts, free clothing, throwing practice (grenades), finest bathroom facilities with a visually open concept and excellent host communication (if not a little in your face). Then it was on to 7 months Officers Candidate School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma to learn how to shoot cannon and become officers (Second Lieutenants). As graduating fifth in his OCS class he was assured that he would not be going to Vietnam. But he was assigned an artillery battalion, in Fort Irwin, California. Good News/Bad News: the further training would be in sunny California BUT it was in the Mojave Desert. But why train for jungle warfare in a desert ?? After desert training, left Long Beach California on a 28 day cruise across the Pacific.
Artillery – The King of Battle: That title goes back to Napoleon. It caused more battlefield casualties in WW I & WWII than any other type of weapon. Why is it so effective? It is relatively light weight, easy to move, has a firing range of many miles and shoots big, deadly bullets. Roger’s cannon bullets weighted 100 pounds each with 25 pounds of TNT which explodes into 2,000 pieces of shrapnel. The kill radius of round is 50 meters. A volley of six guns will saturate an area the size of a football field.
Vietnam itself: Roger’s battalion initially went to Base camp “An Khe” for 10 days, a largely secure area, to do specific Vietnam training. Away from base camp and out in the field, Roger’s group was greeted by North Vietnamese Army (NVA) mortar attacks and Hanoi Hannah, a Nort Vietnamese radio personality telling us we would all die soon. Our stated Artillery purpose was to protect the infantry, but we were so good (& so deadly) the NVA would attack us from time to time. Roger’s group was nicknamed the “Traveling Guns”. Because Rogers’ group was so effective, they went out to more than regularly to follow & protect the infantry. There was never a day off. Besides soldiering, the Artillery group had to build defensive positions for our guns. His group was moving every moving every 4 or 5 days, sleeping in their clothes and boots without a shower until R & R six months in. It was dangerous and “on” 24/7”. They were always filling sandbags. One night at Firebase Tom, Roger was talking with someone and walked away, moments later a mortar hit that spot killing that individual. Roger’s life was spared by a few minutes. It was an odd thing, the American owned Vietnam by day and the NVA owned it by night.
Bronze Star Medal for Valor: Roger earned Bronze Star Medal for Valor in one of those base camp defense against the NVA. His group’s position with three cannons was on an elevated plateau. The NVA attacked at night under cover of darkness. Roger was third in command and stationed inside the command tent. The first in command came inside away from the battle saying he was due to go home in three weeks and wanted not part of it. The second in command came in and said he just got to Vietnam and didn’t know what to do. Roger switched positions with him and directed his three cannon’s fire from outside. Smartly enough he directed the release of lighter illumination rounds to light up the surrounding area and being on the higher ground moved the cannon to point their rounds downhill. This saved the day (for our side).
Conclusion: Roger has had a long time to process that night. And it wasn’t until recently that something became apparent to him. How unlikely this entire chain of events was. Rogers was supposed to have been in the National Guard – didn’t work out. Roger joined the Army, then after OCS, he was not supposed to go to Vietnam –didn’t work out - then Roger was assigned to Battalion – and this Battery – and this half of the Battery - that was in this town on that night. In the end – with everything that happened – Roger believes he was exactly where he was supposed to be. And there is absolutely no doubt in his mind – that there was another hand on his shoulder that night. In Agreement per Napoleon “God fights on the side with best artillery”.
This scribe apologizes for the omissions of my recounting of Roger Coldsnow’s presentations.
UPCOMING MEETINGS: Bring a Guest:
May 8th Celia Llopis Jepsen, Environment Reporter, “Up from Dirt”
May 15th Georgia Eckett, Conservation Manager, KC Zoo
June 15th Memorial Meeting
Today’s Quote: “People say nothing is impossible, but I don nothing everyday.” Winnie-the-Pooh.
Tim Tholen wrapped up the meeting with the Four Way Test.
Please join the Rotary Book Discussion Group for the discussion of the book The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah. The book discussion will be led by Vivien Jennings and all Rotarians and guests are welcome.
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